Bloomberg

Bloomberg | Quint is a multiplatform, Indian business and financial news company. We combine Bloomberg’s global leadership in business and financial news and data, with Quintillion Media’s deep expertise in the Indian market and digital news delivery, to provide high quality business news, insights and trends for India’s sophisticated audiences.

Deripaska’s Fortune Swelled $679 Million in January

(Bloomberg) -- Oleg Deripaska’s wealth is rising as his problems with the U.S. subside.

His fortune swelled $679 million this year to $3.5 billion as shares of the Russian’s key asset, En+ Group Plc, surged 19 percent. That followed a drop of $5.8 billion last year, the biggest among Russia’s ultra-wealthy, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after he and his key assets were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury as part of an effort to punish Russia for its “malign activity.”

Deripaska, 51, is among a group of tycoons and companies with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin who were hit in retribution for the Kremlin’s alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election in 2016. The U.S. now plans to lift sanctions on En+ Group, EuroSibEnergo JSC and United Co. Rusal, after a push by Senate Democrats failed to keep the restrictions in place.

While sanctions against Deripaska as an individual will remain, the Treasury opted to remove restrictions on the companies following an agreement to significantly reduce the oligarch’s ownership. Aluminum producer Rusal is among the largest companies the U.S. has ever put on its sanctions designation list, a move that caused its shares to plummet.

Any gains for the billionaire will remain on paper, however, as he the personal sanctions keep him from accessing any of his wealth held in the West. Deripaska also won’t be able to receive dividends. He also can’t sell the stakes in his companies without Treasury approval. Even if he were to sell, personal sanctions mean he would struggle to access any proceeds.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that Deripaska, not his companies, was the intended target of sanctions imposed in April on Putin associates over Moscow’s alleged election interference and other activity.